Everything You Need to Know About Re-booking Your Salon and Spa Clients

If you’ve owned a salon for more than 5 minutes, you’ll already know about the highly profitable strategy of client re-booking and pre-booking (that’s where you book your clients for several appointments in advance).

This one strategy alone, if done well, can bring in an extra $200 to $300 per client per year. You’re going to be shocked when you see what this means in real revenue.

Are you ready for it? Then let’s look at the figures:• Let’s say your salon has 400 active clients. • And the average amount spent by each client is $50. That’s pretty do-able. • Next, we’ll assume your clients are coming once every 4 weeks (13 times per year), which is how often they should be if you’re re-booking them before they leave your salon.

So that means you have 400 clients x $50 x 13 visits each per year = $260,000 revenue in one year.

Now, let’s take a look at what happens when you don’t re-book your clients, and they drag their appointment times out to 6 weeks (which is exactly what they’ll do if not re-booked). That means that instead of visiting 13 times per year, they visit 8.67 times instead.

Holy smoke; that’s a whopping reduction in revenue of $86,600, and all because you let your clients decide when they wanted to return to your salon, instead of actively re-booking them every 4 weeks.

Now that figure is going to go up or down depending on the size of your salon, your price point and how good your team members are at re-booking, but I think you’ll agree, it could make a huge and positive impact on your revenue.

So, how can you make this happen in your salon?

It’s not really all that difficult, but of course, you’ll need to make some change to the way you do things currently.

First, your team members must know that there is an expectation (by you) that they will re-book all clients.

It must be part of their conditions of employment. No exceptions.

It’s your job to set monthly goals around the re-booking rates for each team member, monitor those figures closely, and then discuss the outcome with each team member, each month.

If the figures are good, then a pat on the back is necessary (perhaps even a small gift or bonus payment).

If the figures are not up to standard, then a discussion as to how they can be improved should follow. Remember, teach better techniques don’t just chastise. Help your team members grow professionally.

One thing’s certain; if your team members think you don’t care about their re-booking rates, then neither will they.

It is you who must be diligent and consistent when it comes to making this improvement happen.

What to say to your clients.

The next step is you must give your team members the training they need to re-book their clients easily.

During their time with the clients, team members should mention the client’s next visit and what will happen then.

“Grace, your skin is responding really well to this treatment, and so I think we might do a gentle peel next time”.

This sets up the expectation of the next visit in the client’s mind. Half the battle has now been won.

They must also begin the re-booking conversation before the client reaches the reception area, so that a re-booking naturally follows on.

Get the re-booking done prior to the payment being accepted.

During the re-booking, it’s critically important for the employee to determine the re-booking date.

Under no circumstance should they leave that up to the client.

Your employees are the professionals, and therefore it should be up to them to determine the right time frame around their client’s next visit.

It will generally always be sooner than the client would have made it.

A simple but effective script that can be used goes like this “Grace, I’m very happy with the way your skin responded to today’s treatment, and I suggest we re-book you for 4 weeks time so that we can get continue to get even greater improvements. How does 9 am on Wednesday 12th sound to you?”

At this point, the client will either say yes to the suggested day and time or tell the team member that the time doesn’t suit. If this happens, the team member can ask which day that week will be better, and go from there to determine a suitable appointment time.

Now, naturally you’re never going to achieve a 100% re-booking rate, but if you aim for 75-80% and achieve it, you’ll notice a BIG difference in your figures pretty quickly.

How do you encourage salon clients to re-book and pre-book their appointments?

In one word – SCARCITY.

Your clients need to know with absolute certainty that if they don’t re-book each appointment in advance, then they’re going to have a difficult job getting their next appointment scheduled at a time convenient to them.

It’s just so important that your clients never hear an employee say that the salon has been quiet, or that there’s no need to re-book because it will be easy for them to ‘get in’ later on.

This tells the client that your salon is not very busy (which is definitely not the impression you want to give to a client), and that re-booking isn’t necessary for her to secure a good date and time at the drop of a hat.

If you ever hear staff members say this to clients, you must take them aside and correct them immediately. Tell them what they must say instead with all future clients and tell them why.

So to summarise your easy salon re-booking strategy:

1. Set re-booking expectations and goals for your employees. Follow up each month with each team member regarding their performance.

3. Develop a simple natural sounding script that your employees will be happy to use. Better still, ask them to develop their own scripts using the outline you give them.

4. Role-play these scripts at training sessions until they feel and sound natural.

5. Never allow your clients to know if your salon is a little quiet. In their eyes, your salon should always be busy (this makes you much more desirable also) and hard to get an appointment with at short notice.

4. Ensure your team members always re-book the clients using the correct time frame for optimal results.

Pam is an industry experienced coach, salon owner, speaker, author and copywriter.She works beside salon and spa owners to show them how to effectively grow their profits and remain in business for the long-term.

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Pam provided us with a fresh and intelligent third part view of our businesses.

We own and operate two beauty salons on the Gold Coast. Over 12 months ago, after a lengthy search, we enlisted the services of Pam and have not looked back since.

Pam is extremely well connected in not only the beauty industry but business in general. And combined with her own business success, her background in training and coaching and her own very evident drive for perfection, Pam provided us with a fresh and intelligent third part view of our businesses, developing in-depth reporting systems, identifying KPI's and developing coaching plans for areas needing improvement.

Pam has a great rapport with us, our managers and our staff, and through positive coaching techniques has shown how we can grow as a business and as people. Pam has been a huge support to us personally and has helped ensure our businesses are in the best possible shape in a tough financial climate.

Matt and Kylie (Franchise Salon Owners)

Gold Coast, Australia

2017-04-15T11:44:06+00:00

Matt and Kylie (Franchise Salon Owners)

Gold Coast, Australia

We own and operate two beauty salons on the Gold Coast. Over 12 months ago, after a lengthy search, we enlisted the services of Pam and have not looked back since. Pam is extremely well connected in not only the beauty industry but business in general. And combined with her own business success, her background in training and coaching and her own very evident drive for perfection, Pam provided us with a fresh and intelligent third part view of our businesses, developing in-depth reporting systems, identifying KPI's and developing coaching plans for areas needing improvement. Pam has a great rapport with us, our managers and our staff, and through positive coaching techniques has shown how we can grow as a business and as people. Pam has been a huge support to us personally and has helped ensure our businesses are in the best possible shape in a tough financial climate.

We can confidently recommend Pam Stellema…

The APAA has dealt with Pam Stellema over the past 3 years during which time Pam has provided the APAA with excellent support in the areas of Business Coaching expertise, as a Facilitator at our Think Tank meetings, as an engaging speaker on Marketing strategies at our National Educational Conferences and furthermore as the APAA's External Business Consultant for all business matters.

Additionally, Pam Stellema has been very generous with her time when acting in the capacity of a Judge for various Excellence Awards that the APAA promotes to all its members. Her generosity in time also extends to writing Journal articles in our quarterly journals as well as providing handy marketing tips in our monthly e-newsletters.

Pam's contribution to the APAA as well as to its members is seen by the APAA Board as one of the major factors in our business success, helping it to become Australia's premier Association for the Beauty Industry.

We can confidently recommend Pam Stellema and her company SalonSavy as a solid and reliable company and an expert in her Business.

Anne-Marie Marynycz (National President)

Association of Professional Aestheticians of Australia (APAA)

2017-04-15T11:51:01+00:00

Anne-Marie Marynycz (National President)

Association of Professional Aestheticians of Australia (APAA)

The APAA has dealt with Pam Stellema over the past 3 years during which time Pam has provided the APAA with excellent support in the areas of Business Coaching expertise, as a Facilitator at our Think Tank meetings, as an engaging speaker on Marketing strategies at our National Educational Conferences and furthermore as the APAA's External Business Consultant for all business matters. Additionally, Pam Stellema has been very generous with her time when acting in the capacity of a Judge for various Excellence Awards that the APAA promotes to all its members. Her generosity in time also extends to writing Journal articles in our quarterly journals as well as providing handy marketing tips in our monthly e-newsletters. Pam's contribution to the APAA as well as to its members is seen by the APAA Board as one of the major factors in our business success, helping it to become Australia's premier Association for the Beauty Industry. We can confidently recommend Pam Stellema and her company SalonSavy as a solid and reliable company and an expert in her Business.

http://salonsavy.com.au/testimonials/9205/

My coaching with Pam made it happen.

I was so busy running my business, just keeping up with the demands of it all...I was too busy to stop and look at ways I could improve things. I wrongly believed things would improve in time and with some luck! My coaching with Pam made it happen, looking at things in a way I never thought of and giving me the confidence to believe in myself.

After just 3 coaching sessions, I was able to make a decision about purchasing new equipment for my business that will generate tens of thousands of extra dollars in profit every year. Without coaching, I would not have had the confidence to move forward on this, and it may never have happened.

I have always had an open mind to learn "better ways" to do things and to have Pam's experience and knowledge come and be delivered in my own environment was a wonderful and rewarding experience.

I strongly recommend Pam as a Business Coach and adviser as her years of experience and expertise are invaluable and I will be using Pam's services in the future as I grow my business.

Sally Kelly (Salon Owner)

Beauty Secret Skincare, Australia

2017-04-15T11:57:29+00:00

Sally Kelly (Salon Owner)

Beauty Secret Skincare, Australia

I was so busy running my business, just keeping up with the demands of it all...I was too busy to stop and look at ways I could improve things. I wrongly believed things would improve in time and with some luck! My coaching with Pam made it happen, looking at things in a way I never thought of and giving me the confidence to believe in myself. After just 3 coaching sessions, I was able to make a decision about purchasing new equipment for my business that will generate tens of thousands of extra dollars in profit every year. Without coaching, I would not have had the confidence to move forward on this, and it may never have happened. I have always had an open mind to learn "better ways" to do things and to have Pam's experience and knowledge come and be delivered in my own environment was a wonderful and rewarding experience. I strongly recommend Pam as a Business Coach and adviser as her years of experience and expertise are invaluable and I will be using Pam's services in the future as I grow my business.

I can’t wait to work with you again.

I needed a professional with experience, whose advice I valued, to help me put my new service menu together.

At first, I was taken back, but I have to confess it was amazing to actually have all the correspondence on paper so I could keep reviewing the info.

At this very moment, I am currently in the process of starting an on-line business and I wouldn’t do the communicating any other way after this time with Pam. As a project manager, well Pam, you are all over it! Congratulations, many have tried to organise me and you win.

Normally I procrastinate over everything for so long I give up. I feel accomplished and with so many things to get in place, I would recommend Pam to everyone who wants effective results.

The highlight for me was seeing the project finalised so quickly with professional results that will take my salon to another level. The results were amazing and left to me it would not have happened. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can’t wait to work with you again.

Sharon Fallon (Salon Owner)

So U Beauty

Grafton, Australia

2017-04-14T15:14:28+00:00

Sharon Fallon (Salon Owner)

So U Beauty

Grafton, Australia

I needed a professional with experience, whose advice I valued, to help me put my new service menu together. At first, I was taken back, but I have to confess it was amazing to actually have all the correspondence on paper so I could keep reviewing the info. At this very moment, I am currently in the process of starting an on-line business and I wouldn’t do the communicating any other way after this time with Pam. As a project manager, well Pam, you are all over it! Congratulations, many have tried to organise me and you win. Normally I procrastinate over everything for so long I give up. I feel accomplished and with so many things to get in place, I would recommend Pam to everyone who wants effective results. The highlight for me was seeing the project finalised so quickly with professional results that will take my salon to another level. The results were amazing and left to me it would not have happened. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. I can’t wait to work with you again.